Sarvesh Sangarya

Saturday, 6 June 2015

Bangalore to Belgium - Kingsnorth International Wheelers

Day 2:

Kingsnorth
International Wheelers is an amateur cycling team based in Gent,
Belgium offering a pathway for aspiring pro cyclists from the
Commonwealth nations. Jack Bauer and Gordon McCauley being the most famous alumni of KIW. I came across Kingsnorth in an online article last year. I contacted Peter Murphy, the club president, inquiring if I could ride for the team and he was very welcoming.

Jack Bauer. The cyclist, not the counter-terrorism agent!

Jamie lent me his pretty cool looking LOOK Pro 586 (look what I did there?) to ride. Sadly, my shoes and pedals were in the bike box which was scheduled to arrive between 8 and 11PM this day.

Pro Tip: Carry your cycling shoes and pedals in your cabin luggage, so that you can borrow a bike to ride in case your bike box/bag is lost in transition.

Belgium
is famous for its cycling infrastructure, with almost every stretch of
road having a dedicated cycling lane. This also comes with a 150€
fine if you are found riding outside the dedicated cycling lane!

In the evening, I rode to the Gent Sports Centre with my teammates Michael, Daniel and Genadijs and boy-oh-boy was it amazing to ride on the bike paths. It was slightly scary in the beginning with its twists and turns and plenty of road furniture, but once I got the gist of it, I felt like a fish in water!

GoPro Video coming soon!

The Sports centre is a gigantic expanse housing several sporting arenas including tennis, football, Kayaking & Caneoing, etc. Being the pro cycling fan I am, the only arena which mattered to me was the Vlaams Wielercentrum Eddy Merckx (Flemish Cycling Centre Eddy Merckx).

At 10PM, I received a phone call that my bike box had reached the doorstep. "ALLEZ! ALLEZ!" I shouted as I was reunited with my Specialized Allez!